Berkeley Brett
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 Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 2:51 pm Post subject: Dalai Lama: CNN's Christiane Amanpour "transfixed" by DL & " |
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Hello friends:
One journalist I've admired over the years is CNN's award-winning
Christiane Amanpour. She is an amazing woman, in many ways.
She recently attended the "Long Life Ceremony" of H.H. the Dalai Lama
in Dharamsala in a purely journalistic capacity, having no special
preconceptions of Buddhism or the Dalai Lama.
I found here account very interesting (I also like the picture here
very much!)
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/08/01/btsc.amanpour.dalai.lama/index.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/5qr7fa
Some highlights:
[begin quoted passages]
DHARAMSALA, India (CNN) -- I never knew much about Buddhism, and was
not expecting much, spiritually, from covering the Dalai Lama. But
what happened just goes to show how the unlikeliest events can affect
you at the unlikeliest times....
.... The day we visited, we attended a "Long Life Ceremony" in which
thousands of Tibetans come from all over India and across the
Himalayas from Tibet to catch a glimpse of their spiritual leader, to
pray for his continued health and long life and to bestow their most
precious gifts upon him, including cubes of dried cheese wrapped in
muslin, textiles and tapestries.
It went on for more than two hours. I never thought I would sit
through the whole thing, but something about the chanting, the incense
and the vital connection between the Dalai Lama and his adoring flock
was mesmerizing.
As a journalist and an observer, I was transfixed.
Even though the Dalai Lama has spent nearly 60 years in exile, people
are still so faithful to him, so respectful, weeping, bowing low as
they pass him sitting high above on his throne-like dais. He towers
over them, and yet there is nothing removed or dictatorial about him.
Afterwards we prepared for our interview. He gives many, and I
wondered what we could elicit from him that would be new or
noteworthy. As our cameramen were setting up, I hung around outside to
quietly watch as he received the first of many visitors that day:
dignitaries, ordinary tourists, prayer groups and school groups.
I've found you can tell almost everything about a person by observing
the way they deal with others. He was kind, witty, warm, laugh-out-
loud funny and deeply moved by some of the personal tales he heard
from those visitors seeking his advice and blessing. I thought about
how he must do this so many hundreds of thousands of times and yet he
had time for everyone, treating each one like a VIP.
Once we sat down, I was immediately slightly thrown off by his style.
He told us very clearly that what the Chinese are doing in Tibet
amounts to "cultural genocide." And then he burst into his trademark
giggles. I couldn't fully understand why, but it is apparently the
Buddhist way to laugh off life's horrors, and thus survive....
This man, who is lionized for his quiet spirituality and for being a
one-man movement of conscience, who had won a Nobel Peace Prize, calls
himself a simple Buddhist monk. As we sat there, suddenly a
thunderstorm broke and all our lights went out and we were plunged
into darkness. Any other important interviewee would have swept out to
rest while we dealt with it. Not the Dalai Lama. He sat there with us
in the dark, cracking jokes and chatting, as we waited for the
generator to kick in....
[end quoted passage]
More about CNN's Christiane Amanpour:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiane_Amanpour
--
Brett
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